Manish Tewari would have made better leader in Lok Sabha

Tuesday, 18/06/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/06/18/manish-tewari-would-have-made-better-leader-in-lok-sabha/

Chandigarh : The appointment of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha has come as a surprise to many. Although Chowdhury has strong Parliamentary credentials, since he happens to be five-time MP from Behrampur in West Bengal, his oratorical skills and command over Hindi and English languages will always remain a handicap for him. Manish Tewari from Punjab would have made a better choice.

Having chosen someone from the eastern part of the country and ignoring the all important north India, the Congress party may end up having committed yet another tactical mistake. When the party is desperately trying to find its feet in the Hindi heartland, a more proficient leader with better command over Hindi would have suited better to lead the party in the Parliament and Tewari would have fitted the frame so well.

Besides Tewari from Punjab, the party also has many brilliant orators and well-known faces like Shashi Tharoor from Kerala. While Tharoor lacks command over Hindi, although his command over English is legendry, Tewari on the other hand, has a record of being the National Spokesperson of the party for over one-and-a-half decade, and for being very impressive in both English as well as Hindi as also Punjabi, which is his mother tongue.

While it is a fact that delivering powerful speeches in the Parliament is only one of the important roles of the party leader in the Lok Sabha, other experience like the number of years in the Parliament and various roles in the organisation also matter. That is where Chowdhury scored over Tewari.

Tewari is only second time MP having won for the first time from Ludhiana in 2009. In 2014, he could not contest for health reasons. In 2019, he contested from Anandpur Sahib and won. Although he remained out of the Parliament between 2014 and 2019, he was one of the most aggressive critics of the Modi government using all the media platforms whether print, electronic, digital or social.

Compared to Chowdhury, Tewari has a better recognised face across the country, thanks to his marathon innings as the National Spokesperson of the party. Besides, his oratorical skills are brilliant. His understanding and insight into the functioning of the Parliamentary democracy remains unparalleled. His command over national and international issues and debating skills are par excellence.

While Tewari remains a Punjabi to the core (although not many people have ‘Tewari’ surname in Punjab), people of the Hindi speaking states could have easily identified with him as Tewari is a more common surname in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The symbolism attached with names and surnames does play an important role in India.

In the previous House also, the Congress party had depended more on experience than talent. In the outgoing House, the Congress was led by MallikarjunKharge, who lost this time. Although he tried to be very effective in the Parliamentary debates, but his Hindi handicap was too obvious to be ignored and overlooked. Chowdhury’s command over Hindi may not be as bad as Kharge’s, but he, too, lacks natural flow.

One of the major reasons for BJP’s brilliant performance in the Hindi heartland is that it had brilliant and outstanding Hindi speakers like Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, who connected with the common people so effortlessly as they think and speak in Hindi, unlike those who think in English and speak in Hindi and so much gets lost in translation within their mind.